Premier Collection NIV Thinline Bible Large Print Review

Zondervan’s NIV Thinline Large Print Bible is their double-column entry into the Premier Collection line of Bibles. Like the other editions of this series, this Bible was designed to find the perfect balance between premium quality and price. Like the NIV Heritage, this edition doesn’t have references. This is the thinnest Bible of the series. This edition is ISBN: 9780310450894, made in China with premium materials.

It includes an elegant box and the Bible is wrapped inside.

Zondervan provided this Bible in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review, only an honest one. All opinions are my own.

Video Review

Cover and Binding

The cover is black goatskin. It’s soft to the touch and has a nice grain. The liner is edge-lined leather. It has perimeter stitching and it includes a silver gilt line. The cover doesn’t feel too thin. It’s flexible without being too floppy. It’s more flexible than the NKJV Single Column. I find the yapp to be more noticeable in this edition.

The front has no writing. The spine has HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, and ZONDERVAN printed in silver. It has 5 spine indications stamped in silver. The spine of the cover is flexible, which allows the text block to rise as the Bible is opened. This helps keep the pages flat.

It’s Smyth sewn and has no trouble laying open on the first page. It also lays flat because the text block rises when the Bible is opened. It weighs 2 lbs, 7 oz. The overall size is 10 x 6 x 1.1″ at the spine. These dimensions feel well-balanced in the hand. The flexibility is easy to hold. It’s not as heavy or as thick as the NKJV Single Column.

It includes three satin ribbons at 3/8″ each, in three different shades of blue. They’re extra long and they’re cut at a slight angle, with one being curved. I love the color of these ribbons.

Paper

The paper is 36gsm premium European Bible paper. It’s white in color and it’s highly opaque, but the show-through is a little more noticeable to my eyes in this edition. It has a smooth texture, but it’s slightly rougher than the other editions from the Premier Collection. I find it easier to turn these pages than most Bibles.

Page edges are art-gilt with blue under sliver.

Typography

The layout was designed by 2K/Denmark. The text is presented in double-column paragraph format. The header shows the page numbers in the outer corner followed by a vertical line, and then the book name and chapter numbers. Footnotes are placed within the text in the bottom right corner.

The typeface is the Comfort Print designed specifically for the New International Version by 2K/Denmark. It’s labeled as 11.4 point size, but to my eye, it looks like maybe 9.5-point. This is partially due to the font’s design. The print is very dark and consistent throughout. It’s a black-letter text. Unlike the other Bibles in this series, this one doesn’t have highlights in color. The section headings, drop caps (chapter numbers), and the book name and chapter numbers in the header are all black, and the vertical bar in the book title, header, and the footnotes is gray.

It has around 44 characters across with around 8-10 words per line, which is a higher character-count for a double-column layout than most Bibles. This fits within my personal favorite of somewhere between 44-66 characters. This is one of the best and cleanest double-column layouts that I’ve read from.

Double-column layouts typically don’t handle poetry well because of the narrow column-width, but this Bible’s word count is excellent for an elegant poetic setting. This is among the best poetic settings I’ve seen in a double column layout (the other best is the NKJV Thinline from the Premier Collection).

The text never feels crowded and it doesn’t have any awkward spacing issues. The text is not printed with line-matching, but there are a lot of lines that do match. The paper is still opaque enough that this doesn’t cause a lot of distractions. There’s enough room in the gutter, and the spine is thin enough, that the text is brought out onto the flat part of the page.

Each Psalm has a pattern of four dots next to the Psalm’s chapter number.

Footnotes

Footnotes are placed under the last verse on the page. They have an interesting design that makes them stand apart from the text: they have a gray vertical bar that lines up with the left edge of the column, and then prints the footnotes in a smaller font than the Scriptures.

Table of Weights and Measures

The only helps in the back is a one-page table that shows the biblical unit and approximate American and metric equivalents. It includes weights, length, and capacity for both dry and liquid measures. It includes information about how the calculations were derived.

Comparisons

Here’s a look at how the NIV Thinline Bible Large Print Bible compares to the NIV Heritage, Premier Collection NKJV Thinline, ESV Omega, and Schuyler Quentel.

NIV Heritage

The NIV Heritage is the other NIV from the Premier Collection. It’s an elegant single-column edition that’s easily one of the best NIV’s that I’ve seen. It has a slightly smaller font and seems to have slightly more opaque paper.

Thinline NKJV

The Premier Collection Thinline NKJV Reference Bible has the same footprint. It has references, concordance, and maps, so it’s slightly thicker. The font is about the same size. It has red highlights.

ESV Omega

The ESV Omega is similar in design. It has higher quality materials and it’s price reflects this.

Schuyler Quentel

The Schuyler Quentel is the other double-column premium NIV. My copy is the NKJV, but they’re similar. It has thicker paper, and thicker text block, and a higher quality leather, which is reflected in the higher price. It’s a reference edition with concordance and maps.

Conclusion

Zondervan’s Premier Collection NIV Thinline Large Print Bible is a well-made elegant edition. The focus is on the text, which is clean and free of distraction. The lack of cross-references, a concordance, and maps make this Bible a little difficult to study from. It’s excellent for study when used with external tools, and its size and weight makes it a good choice for carry.

If you want a concordance and maps, the I’d recommend the NIV Heritage over this one, but if you don’t need those tools and prefer a double-column or the thinline format, this one is hard to beat. The dark font draws me in and the thinline format is great for carry.